Detroit Went Way Overboard Paying Pensions: Report

posted by Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
-
3 years ago

(NEWSER) – In its path to declaring bankruptcy, Detroit didn't help itself on the pension front: The city, it seems, was overly generous with its pension payments to the tune of billions of dollars. The city offered extra cash to workers still on the job, while retirees got bonuses and families received payments following the deaths of workers not yet qualified for pensions, the New York Times reports. Some 23 years of above-and-beyond payments cost Detroit $2 billion, according to an outside actuary.